Ch.42[Chapter 42] Battle of Annihilation

“Commander, what was that just now?”

Deep within the command center, in the operations meeting room.

The Chief of Staff, who had been assisting the commander for a long time, frowned as he struck the desk.

The commander merely sipped whiskey from his mug while staring at the gridded battlefield map, as if this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

“It’s the story writer, isn’t it? Is the story writer making you do this?”

As a veteran among veterans who had served under three commanders, he had the privilege of speaking informally with the current commander.

And the commander, who knew he understood nothing beyond strategy and tactics, was always one to heed his staff’s advice.

“Strange. I was told it would work well. Seeing your reaction, I guess the content was a mess?”

“You call that an explanation?”

The Chief of Staff was speechless.

This clueless commander, who knew nothing beyond warfare, occasionally managed to turn people’s insides out without batting an eye.

“Everyone in this family is equally terrible at expressing themselves.”

The Chief of Staff grumbled loudly enough for the commander to hear.

The commander couldn’t meet his eyes and just sipped his drink from the mug.

“When we return, I must stop accepting support from the current story writer. Someone of your rank could choose any story writer you want. They may have helped during difficult times, but they’re clearly incompetent.”

The Chief of Staff fumed, “They don’t consider your personality at all.”

“Let’s stop talking about that.”

The commander changed the subject to avoid the intensifying scolding.

“The synergy has been activated, so the operation will begin now. Let’s prepare for any possible enemy attacks instead.”

The commander looked at the map. Black and white wooden pieces were placed on it.

Combined with the grid drawn on the map, it almost looked like chess.

The commander picked up a white piece and moved it to H3, where Hill 8 was located.

The black piece on Hill 8 fell over.

…

Upon arriving at the assembly point, Sir Dominic looked up at the metal object floating in the sky.

How could it float in the sky without wings?

He had seen demons floating through magic or special means, but the metal object before him possessed a different dimension of wonder.

“What is that?”

Unable to contain his curiosity, Sir Dominic asked Strelch.

Strelch, who was checking his own equipment, looked at what Sir Dominic was pointing to and replied as if it were nothing special.

“That’s a Behemoth-class transport ship. They say it flies with some anti-gravity engine or something, but to me, it’s just a hunk of metal full of defense procurement corruption.”

It’s slow, and less durable than the previous generation, Strelch muttered incomprehensibly.

Sir Dominic had sought to resolve one question only to receive a greater one in return, but hearing the word “transport,” he could at least guess that the steel vessel flying through the sky was meant to carry people.

“Operation time! Everyone please board the transport ship!”

A person wearing a helmet that knights might use waved their arms widely and shouted to everyone.

“Let’s go too.”

Strelch finished organizing his equipment, finally attached a field shovel to his waist, and stood up.

Sir Dominic simply followed Strelch’s lead.

He was faithfully following the adage that when unfamiliar with the battlefield, follow the local soldier.

As they approached the transport ship, they felt tremendous air pressure from the flying vessel.

Boarding the ship and looking closely, Sir Dominic saw something rotating fiercely attached to both sides of the vessel.

Those must be the devices that allow it to fly, Sir Dominic reasoned to himself.

Inside the ship were long benches on both sides, already occupied by people who had boarded earlier.

“Let’s go to the very back. This must be your first time on this transport, so you might get sick.”

Strelch led Sir Dominic to the very back.

Sir Dominic, who was curiously observing the interior of the transport ship filled with complex devices, noticed people sitting in seats and strapping something around their bodies.

“What is that?”

Strelch replied as if it were nothing special.

“Safety belts. As I said earlier, this transport ship is full of defense procurement corruption, so it doesn’t absorb shock well. Without safety belts, there would be a disaster inside.”

Reaching the back, Strelch sat down and fastened his safety belt with practiced ease.

Sir Dominic awkwardly imitated him from the corner of his eye and barely managed to fasten his belt.

“Press this to release the belt. When we land, press it and run out the way we came in.”

Strelch was generous with his advice. This was possible because he had come to understand Sir Dominic to some extent.

“Ah, mic test. Attention passengers. This transport is the express to hell, heading to hell. I offer my sincere condolences to all of you heading to the front lines. Of course, I’ll be getting off there too.”

The pilot’s cheerful laughter flowed from the speakers mounted inside the ship.

“Shortly, this transport will depart from the assembly point and head to Hill 8. We expect enemy interception along the way, so please be prepared for impact at all times.”

“Just drive properly.”

Strelch grumbled upon hearing the announcement.

“Always shaking and making excuses.”

“This transport will take off in 30 seconds. Brace for impact!”

A red light next to the door flashed and made a loud noise.

The door slowly closed, and the interior of the transport gradually darkened.

“Just don’t throw up.”

Strelch playfully tried to scare Sir Dominic.

“You’re about to physically experience what defense procurement corruption really means.”

Shortly after, the transport ship began to take off.

…

Hill 8.

If the center of the battlefield in the early stages was the fortress at Hill 3, the center in the later stages was this Hill 8.

“Yoho! Everyone take a deep breath! We’re diving!”

A massive ghost ship moved smoothly over the scarred ground before disappearing beneath it.

After moving underground briefly, the ghost ship emerged in the middle of a group of people, sending the unfortunate ones who were standing there flying into the air.

Those caught between the ghost ship were removed from the battlefield, but those nearby calmly attempted to attack the ghost ship.

[(RED) Star The Tentacle Explorer uses divine power [Enlightenment]. Some personnel are mutating.]

But the ghost ship was no pushover. When The Tentacle Explorer cast Enlightenment, tentacles emerged from various parts of the rotting, twisted ship. With eight massive tentacles appearing, it looked like a kraken wearing a ship.

The ghost ship swept up people around it with its tentacles while firing sinister, eerie ghost shells from the deck.

“Hold back the ghost ship with our current forces, and the rest of you stop those coming over there! The defense line must not break!”

The Stage 4 commander, Political Officer Igoroski, said as he shot down an approaching mutant’s head with his pistol.

“Cowardice in wartime means summary execution! And those with twisted ideologies face death! Those who are both cowardly and twisted need not be mentioned!”

Igoroski fired his pistol toward the sky.

It must have contained tracer rounds, as the bullet rose into the sky emitting light.

Then, red light formations appeared at the feet of nearby allies, allowing them to run faster.

“Damn. This is only enough to maintain our position.”

Igoroski replaced his pistol’s magazine while surveying the battlefield.

Fighting was occurring at every hill, but for some reason, Hill 8 was particularly intense.

Igoroski quickly ducked to avoid the claws of a wyvern diving toward him.

As he raised his head to warn about the wyvern, a missile fired from an allied fighter jet tore through the wyvern’s wings, causing it to crash.

The fallen wyvern bounced off a tank. That tank was then grabbed by tentacles suddenly emerging from the ground and crushed.

The tentacles retreated underground after taking fire.

[(ALL) Star The Tentacle Explorer uses divine power [Twisted Space-Time]. Passages allowing rapid movement across the battlefield are revealed to The Tentacle Explorer’s forces.]

“When the hell is our reinforcement coming?”

Igoroski, rising to his feet, spotted someone trying to sneak away using stealth.

Without even aiming, he shot the fleeing person down, then sighed from the enemy lines.

Enemies were emerging from the ground. Probably arriving through the divine power just mentioned.

With enemy reinforcements arriving, he could only hope for allied reinforcements.

If allies didn’t arrive in time, they would have to abandon this position.

[(BLUE) Stacy(Blue): “Attention Hill 8. Reinforcements will arrive soon. I repeat, reinforcements will arrive soon.”]

“Not very reliable.”

Igoroski looked up at the strong wind blowing from behind him.

A transport ship was approaching at terrifying speed, gradually decreasing altitude.

“…Huh?”

However, despite slowing down as much as possible, the transport ship couldn’t stop properly and flew over Igoroski’s head toward enemy lines.

With a crash, the transport ship collided with the ghost ship.

“Ah, ahhh! We’re falling!”

The ghost ship, unable to withstand the impact, was toppling sideways, while the transport ship, its front completely crumpled from the impact, crashed to the ground.

Finally, people began crawling out of the transport ship after it stopped, its rear door twisted and opened haphazardly.

“Oh my.”

“Defense procurement corruption. That damn defense procurement corruption.”

“Ugh. I thought they said ‘brace for impact,’ not ‘brace for collision.'”

They were all moaning.

“See? I told you to always wear your safety belt. Anyway, it seems we’ve arrived at the right place.”

“That’s not the issue. It seems we’ve landed right in the middle of enemy territory.”

At least Strelch, who was as sturdy as a bear, and Sir Dominic, who had tanker characteristics, were able to walk out safely.